Ellington

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — More than a dozen students and faculty members from a Catholic high school in Bay St. Louis took steps over the weekend to call attention to the plight of homeless veterans.

Students from Our Lady Academy spent a chilly night outside in sleeping bags Saturday. And they collected pledges from family members and friends to help homeless veterans.

Saturday night's event was planned after the students learned from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Biloxi that there are at least 300 to 400 homeless veterans in south Mississippi.

"When you step back and look into your life, you realize the things you have that other people don't and we need to make sure we can provide for people who can't provide for themselves," Mary Margaret Gagnet, a senior, told WLOX TV (http://bit.ly/VWf69B ).

Seventh grader Sarah Pierce raised $750.

"My grandfather and other grandfather are veterans and I know how much it would mean to them, it feels amazing," Pierce said.